Ashley Bergeron
Old Lyme — It is with deep sadness that Kate and Megan share with the world that their beautiful mother, Ashley Getman Bergeron, left this earth on the morning of June 9, 2018, after a short and graceful battle with cancer. As she did with everything in her earthly life, she moved on peacefully, personifying serenity, and surrounded by love.
Ashley was born in New London on Sept. 29, 1958, the oldest daughter of Capt. Robert Getman and Diane Luke Getman of Old Lyme.
She graduated from Oak Hill Academy in Virginia in 1977, and from there began her noble career with the state of Connecticut, working for the Department of Developmental Services (DDS), from which she retired in early 2017, after 39 incredible years. Ashley’s first years of service were at Seaside, a historic and former health center for the mentally and physically disabled in Waterford. She then spent many years working in group homes in Old Saybrook, before moving to DDS in New London, until her retirement. To say Ashley’s time with the state was solely a career is an understatement, for she went far beyond the call of duty for every soul she encountered, always treating everyone as an equal and with profound respect and dignity. Her daughters cannot recall one family holiday where a client wasn’t present, including the Halloweens she worked, but still made it home, clients in tow, to dress her girls up; or the Thanksgivings where her guys couldn’t be with their own families. Ashley’s effortless and endless commitment to her cause is without a doubt one of her greatest legacies.
Her other great legacy remains her two daughters, Kate and Megan.
Ashley was her most zen in a garden, the beach a close second. Kindness was her religion. She had a perfect sense of humor, the warmest, most selfless heart, and a remarkable devotion to her family and friends, near and far. Everything about her was art: the way she smiled, her incomparable handwriting, her flair for design, her easy, elegant style, the way she arranged flowers, the way she loved.
In addition to her daughters, Katherine Bergeron of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Megan Bergeron of Norwalk, Ashley leaves behind her siblings, her very best friends, Scott Getman and his wife Anita of Clinton, Shawn Getman and his wife Mary of Collinsville, Chris Getman and his husband Joe of Hudson, N.Y., and Kelly Danahy and her husband Bob of Severna Park, Md. She was so proud of her nieces and nephews, Kristian, Trevor, Emily, Erin, Brennan, Brian and Josh, all of whom deeply loved their Auntie Ash. She also leaves behind her former husband of 29 years, Donald Bergeron of Niantic. Ashley’s family of many friends will miss her dearly, especially the Women of Wisdom (you know who you are), as well as many loved ones from the Bergeron clan, one of whom recently describes being “enchanted” upon first meeting her. “Her bracelets, her clothes, her general coolness, she was the aunt I always wanted.”
She was the mother we always wanted, and the sister, daughter, best friend, spiritual guru, person-you-alwayscalled and guiding light we were so lucky to have had. Gratitude was a theme for Ashley and her daughters, and though she left us far too early, gratitude is what we’ll always have.
Ashley is predeceased by her beloved parents and her oldest brother Robert Tracey.
Kate and Megan would like to thank the nurses, PAs, social workers, doctors and volunteers on the 14th floor at the Yale New Haven Hospital Smilow Cancer Center. Your humanity made all the difference.
In lieu of flowers, Ashley’s family asks that you pay it forward with a random act of kindness to honor her overwhelmingly generous spirit and memory.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. on Friday, June 15, at Christ the King Church in Old Lyme. Interment will follow in Duck River Cemetery. Calling hours will be held from 4 to 7 p.m. on Thursday, June 14, at Thomas L. Neilan & Sons Funeral Home, 48 Grand St., in Niantic. Please visit www.neilanfuneralhome. com for more information.